MENU

Mama Vao Vao: Sakalava Women Sew Tapestries of Hope

By Rebe McReynolds, Sep 28, 2017

I’ve recently left my upstairs art studio to find a new one outside among my Sakalava neighbors. The women around me are artisans creating curtains and tablecloths using traditional sewing techniques passed down from their grandmothers. This local skill has helped to support them for generations, but the truth is that the skill is beginning to fade away. And, quite honestly, the market for prostitution and child-sex workers is ever increasing. What are we to do with something so beautiful and so ugly? When will Christ come to finally remove this true sadness?

In my small effort, I emerged from my upstairs studio to learn how to sew like my Sakalava neighbors. Truly inspired by their work, but more so with their struggle and stories, I began to think about how we might approach a new product, with new designs, but using the same traditional techniques they’ve been using for generations. Being an artist myself, a painter, I saw the beauty, details, and expression in their skill, and it became clear to me that their pieces deserved to be signed, stretched, and presented as works of art.

Mama Vao Vao

The tablecloths and curtains that the women create take between two weeks and two months to make; my island home is full of them. Though the market in Nosy Be is flooded with these products, the shapes are all the same because only a handful of women draw each cookie-cutter design. Currently, we have organized 18 women in the village where we live who are ready to sew, and ready to create a small business for themselves. My closest friend is Mama Jean and she and I are drawing new designs on a heavy cotton material, which the ladies take and sew one by one. Next, their name and our company logo is stitched on each piece; then they are washed and stretched on a wooden frame.

Our company name is Mama Vao Vao, pronounced “vo-vo” with a long-o sound. It means something new—and fresh—is just happening. With that in mind our company is new and will always be making something new, and the “Mama” part incorporates the way in which the women are recognized in the village. I’m Mama Camden, and each woman signs their work accordingly by the name they are called in the village. The village is connected by their family, mothers are known by their children and children are known by their mothers. Each of our pieces are connected in that way through the signatures. And so, as a collective group of women, we are “Mama Vao Vao.”

We have pieces ready to sell, but now we must figure out how to make the connection with the market of Italian and French tourists that flood this island every month. This is the next challenge we face, and none of us knows Italian or French, nor do we have the language ability to give the story behind our work.

Mama Vao Vao Art

Please pray for Mama Vao Vao as we try to create a sustainable business. I believe that a business mission like this, bathed in prayer, has the potential to change the spiritual and entrepreneurial environment for women on an island plagued with sexual oppression.

Rebe McReynolds serves with MTW in Madagascar

Please login to continue
Forgot your password?
Recover it here.
Don't have an account?
Create an Account
Sign Up for Free
Name
Email
Choose Password
Confirm Password

GET INVOLVED

Join a Growing Team in Freiburg, Germany
Longer
Cultivate a Culture of Missions in Your Church
Additional Trips
Mission Trips

The Sakalava Church Matured Before My Eyes

Not long ago the Sakalava were steeped in ancestor worship and spirit possession. Now believers are leading a church grounded in God's Word.

SEE MORE

Praying for Lemurs

In the jungles of Nosy Be, Madagascar, a young Sakalava believer discovers the power of prayer.

SEE MORE

Music Speaks Truth in Madagascar (VIDEO)

A friendship with local musicians led to the creation of songs with Scripture in the Sakalava language set to Sakalava music, and to faith.

SEE MORE

Pray for women of the Mama Vao Vao sewing business in Madagascar. It's helping keep Sakalava women out of prostitution and introducing them to Christ. 

Give thanks for the maturing of the Sakalava church in Madagascar. Pray for the Sakalava believers who are now leading a congregation of people once steeped in ancestor worship and spirit possession.

Pray for the Sakalava in Nosy Be, Madagascar. Islanders have been hard hit by the shutdown of the tourisim industry. Many are new to faith. 

Pray for a band of young Sakalava men in Madagascar who have come to faith and are writing and recording songs from Scripture.

Pray today for Alexi and Mbotizara, new Sakalava believers in Madagascar. Pray they will grow in their faith and lead others to faith in Christ. 

Pray for the Sakalava people of Nosy Be, Madagascar as they deal with harsh realities of death and poverty, and give thanks that many are coming to faith. 

Pray for the Church in Africa to deepen and for African believers to live holy lives in accordance with God's Word.  

Pray for a sewing ministry in Madagascar as it transforms into a business providing resources to a community plagued with sexual oppression.

Pray for missionaries adjusting to new cultures and new norms, forcing them to surrender the comforts they once considered non-negotiable. 

Pray that we would become more proficient at ministering to oral learners—those in cultures that learn best through the spoken word and storytelling.

SUBSCRIBE TO STORIES & MORE

Good news in your inbox, once per week.